How-to: Evaluating Survey Results with Reporting+

This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to evaluate survey results using Reporting+ in EFS. It covers creating reports, structuring data, applying filters, creating contingency tables, performing recodes, and exporting the final report.

Creating a New Report

Reporting+ is directly integrated into EFS and offers all the features you need to create appealing reports. Simply follow the steps below:

  • Open your project and select EFS Reporting+ from the Survey menu on the left-hand side.
  • The Report Overview area with a list of all reports previously created for the selected project is displayed. Click + Create report in the top right-hand corner.
  • A screen for creating new reports is opened. Enter a title and optionally a description. For multilingual projects, select the desired language under Language. If your project is a personalized survey, you can specify that participant data will also be available for evaluation by activating the checkbox next to Participant data. For the sake of our test report, we activate the checkbox.
  • Click on Create.

Structuring the Report

Now that your report has been created, you can start building out the structure.

The Sources area on the left-hand side contains all available source data (questions, survey data and possibly participant data), recodes, structuring elements such as filters for restricting the base, and split dimensions for creating contingency tables. The structure of the report is built in the Structure area and individual tables and diagrams can be opened and edited in the Workpad area.

Dividing the Report into Chapters

In the Structure area, for every new report a first chapter is available by default. You can add further chapters, if required. In the finished report, these chapters are displayed differently depending on the selected export format. The following formats are available:

  • HTML reports: the chapters are displayed in the navigation bar of the report. The contents of each chapter are summarized on an HTML page.
  • Excel reports: the contents of a chapter are each summarized on a tab.
  • PPT reports and PDFs generated on the basis of PPT reports: a new PPT slide starts at the beginning of each chapter.

To rename the existing chapter and add further chapters:

  • To rename the first chapter, click on the corresponding chapter in the Structure area.
  • Then, click on the pencil icon.
  • Enter a new title and click on Save.
  • To add a new chapter, click on the plus icon in the Structure area.
  • Enter a title and click on Save.

Evaluating Questions by Means of Tables

Now it’s time to fill the created chapters of your report with content. With Reporting+, you can easily and in just a few steps display the questions from your survey project in the form of tables for evaluation purposes.

  • In the Sources area, click on the plus symbol next to Questions.         
  • All available questions from your survey are displayed. Drag and drop the desired question into the Structure area and into the desired chapter. To do this, click on the question, hold down the mouse button and drag the question to the right onto the chapter while still holding down the mouse button. The bar above the question and the chapter itself are now displayed in green and you can release the mouse button. You can also select several questions at the same time and then drag them together into the Structure area.
  • Click on the question that you have just dragged into the Structure area. The percentage evaluation of the question is displayed as a table in the Workpad area. The leftmost column contains the code of the answer option, according to which the answer options in the row next to it are sorted in ascending order. The two columns on the right show the frequency as a number and as a percentage.The question that you have just dragged into the Structure area is already displayed as a table by default. However, you can customize it even further to suit your requirements. In the following, we would like to show you just a few of the customization options that are suitable for many use cases:

Note: If you want charts instead of tables to be created by default from questions that you drag into the Structure area, you can change this default setting under Report → Report settings by activating the checkbox next to Create charts instead of tables by default.

Sorting the Results by Frequency

In order to see at a glance which outdoor activity participants selected most frequently, we will sort the results by frequency. For means of clarity, we will also remove the answer option code:

  • In the Workpad section, click the gear icon in the top right corner.
  • Select the Table display tab.
  • Under Display options for tables, deactivate the checkbox for Show code in tables.
  • Under Sort, select the options Frequency and descending from the drop-down menus.
  • Click on Save.
  • The results in your table will now be displayed in descending order of frequency without the answer option code.

Adding Statistical Values

With Reporting+ you also have the option of adding statistical values to your table. To do this, proceed as follows:

  • Click on the pencil icon in the Workpad area, in which the table you want to edit is displayed.
  • The table editor opens.
  • Select the statistical value you want to add from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the editor. A table of all available values with a corresponding explanation can be found here. As an example, we will select the value Total.
  • Click on Add.
  • The value is added to your table. If required, you can add further values in the same way.
  • Then, click on Save.

Note: Certain settings cannot only be applied to individual questions, but also report-wide for all questions at the same time. Click on Report at the top left above the Sources area and select the menu item Report settings. Then select the desired settings and click on Apply to all.

Evaluating Questions by Means of Diagrams

If you intend to export your report as a PowerPoint presentation or PDF file after completion, it is a good idea to evaluate questions in form of diagrams. To change the presentation of the data from a table to a diagram, proceed as follows:

  • In the Structure area, click on the question, whose presentation you would like to change.
  • The question is displayed in the Workpad area. Click on the arrow next to the bar icon. There are various chart options to choose from. For our test report, we select Column chart.
  • The result data of your question is now displayed as a column chart. Click on the arrow next to the bar icon in the Workpad area again, and select the Chart layout option at the bottom of the list.
  • You can now customize the layout of your chart as you wish. Under Chart type, you can select your preferred color scheme for your chart from the drop-down menu on the right. For our example chart, we select the option QB standard.
  • Under Display options, you can specify that the respective response values are displayed above columns and a legend is displayed below the chart. Just select the corresponding checkbox.
  • Under Values of the chart, you can choose, whether values should be displayed as a percentage or as a number.
  • Click on Save.
  • Your chart is now displayed according to the selected options in the Workpad area.

Applying Filters

By means of filters, you can restrict the basis of your report – i.e. the number of people to be included in your analysis. In the following, we would like to use two examples to show you in detail how you can apply filters to your entire report or to specific sections of your report.

To apply a filter to the entire report:

In the following, we will first create a report-wide filter to evaluate only the results of participants, who took part in the survey in a specific time period.

  • Click on Report above the Sources area.
  • Select Report filter.
  • Under Date of participation, click in the empty fields and select the desired date and time.
  • Then, click on Save.
  • For the entire report, only results data from participants, who took part in the survey within the specified time period, will be analyzed.   

To apply a filter to a specific section in the report:

We now want to create a filter to restrict only the basis of a specific section in the report. For example, for a specific question, we only want to show responses from participants from Germany. We can create this filter because we have activated the checkbox for participant data when creating the report, and the data from the participant administration is therefore available for evaluation.

  • Click on the Filter menu item in the lower part of the Sources area.
  • Click on the plus icon.
  • A screen for creating a new filter is displayed. At the top, you can use the condition editor to create a restriction condition. In the middle, you can select the disposition codes you want to filter by and at the bottom you can filter by the date of participation.
  • Enter a descriptive title for your filter. Since we are filtering by participation from Germany, we will enter the title “Only Germany”.
  • In the condition editor, select the variable u_country under Variable. Under Condition, keep the default setting = (equal). Under Code, select code 1 (Germany).
  • Click on Save.
  • The filter is now displayed in the list of filters.
  • Drag and drop the filter into the Structure area.
  • Click on the Data menu item above the Filter menu item.
  • Click on the plus symbol to the left of Questions.
  • Drag the desired question into the Structure area and onto the filter to be applied to the question. As soon as the filter itself is highlighted in green and a green bar is displayed above the question, you can release the mouse button.
  • If you now click on the question under the filter, only the results data for participants from Germany will be displayed in the Workpad area.

Setting Anonymity Limits

Due to filtering or quotas the number of responses to certain questions can be so low that it might be possible to draw conclusions about the identity of participants or participant groups. However, in certain use cases – e.g., in the context of employee feedback – it is important to protect the anonymity of participants. For this purpose, you can configure anonymity criteria directly as report filters in Reporting+. These filters can also be applied either to the entire report or only to sections of the report.

  • Either open the Report filter menu item or create a new filter via the Filter menu item (see above for a detailed description), depending on whether the anonymity limit should apply to the entire report or only to a section.
  • In the Data set for report section, select the desired limit value under Anonymity limit. As an example, we select 5 as the limit value.
  • Click on Save.
  • The report will now only display results for questions with at least 5 answers. 

Creating Contingency Tables

For statistical analysis, it can be helpful to examine whether participants’ responses are related to a specific variable (or even several variables). For this purpose, using split dimensions you can easily create contingency tables in Reporting+. In our test report, we would now like to analyze the answers to the question “Hike or Bike? What’s your favorite outdoor activity?” in connection with the gender of the participants. To do this, proceed as follows:

  • In the Sources area, click on the Data menu item.
  • Drag the desired question into the Structure area.
  • Then click on the Split dimensions menu item in the Sources area.
  • To create a new split dimension, click the plus icon.
  • The split dimension editor is opened.
  • Enter a descriptive name for your split dimension under Name. As we want to split the results by gender, we select “Gender” as the name.
  • In our example survey, there is a question asking for the gender of the participants. The answers to the selected question should be split according to this variable.
  • In the Sources area, click on the plus icon to the left of Questions.
  • Click on the plus icon to the left of “Gender”.
  • Drag the question “Gender”, in which the gender of participants is queried, into the Split dimension area.
  • In the Split dimension area, click on the Detail mode tab. On this tab, you can see the structure of your split dimension.
  • If you would like to display a column with the total result in addition to the split by gender, select either Left or Right from the Total drop-down menu at the top right. The total result will then be displayed to the right or left of the breakdown by gender.
  • Then click on Save.
  • The split dimension is now displayed in the list on the left-hand side.
  • Now drag and drop the split dimension into the Structure area.
  • Select the question that you moved to the Structure area in the beginning, and place it directly under the split dimension as shown below.
  • The answers to your question are now displayed in the Workpad area, split by gender.

Creating Recodes

Next, we would like to perform two different recodes for our test report. In statistics, recoding refers to the transformation or re-categorization of data. This can be helpful to better analyze data. With Reporting+, different types of recodes can be realized: Simple recoding, Multiple recoding, Recoding for use as weighting template, Top responses in open-ended answers and – under certain circumstances – Grouping of numbers. In this step-by-step guide, we will focus on the two types of Simple Recoding and Top responses in open-ended answers. Detailed information on recodes can be found here.

Simple Recoding

We will now perform a simple recoding of the following question:

For greater clarity, the first two answer options are to be combined into the “GPS device” category and the answer options “iPhone” and “Other smartphone” into the “Smartphone” category. The answer option “I don’t know” remains unchanged. To do this, follow the steps below:

  1. Create New Recode
  • Click on the Recodes menu item in the Sources area.
  • Click on the plus icon.
  • A screen for creating new recodes is displayed. Retain the default setting Simple recoding.
  • Click on Continue.
  • The Recodes editor is opened.
  • Enter a name for the recode.
  • One category already exists by default. Enter the desired name for this category in the field above the condition editor. In our case: GPS device.
  • The answer options that are to be combined in the “GPS device” category will now be defined in the condition editor:
  • In the Variable drop-down menu, select the question, for which you want to create the recode.
  • Keep the option = (equal) in the Condition drop-down menu.
  • Under Code, select the answer option “GPS device with map display”.
  • Under Conjunction, click on the plus icon
  • Select OR from the drop-down menu.
  • In the Variable drop-down menu, select the question, for which you want to create the recode again.
  • Keep the option = (equal) in the Condition drop-down menu.
  • Under Code, select the second answer option “GPS device without map display”, which is to be summarized under the “GPS device” category.
  1. Create Further Categories
  • Now create the second category “Smartphone”, under which the next two answer options should be combined. To do this, click on the plus icon in the list of your categories at the top left.
  • Proceed in the same way as for the first category:
  • First enter the name for the category – “Smartphone”.
  • In the Variable drop-down menu, select the question again, for which you want to create the recode.
  • Keep the option = (equal) in the Condition drop-down menu.
  • Under Code, select the third answer option “iPhone”, which should be summarized under the category “Smartphone”.
  • Under Conjunction, click on the plus icon.
  • Select OR from the drop-down menu.
  • In the Variable drop-down menu, select the question again, for which you want to create the recode.
  • Keep the option = (equal) in the Condition drop-down menu.
  • Under Code, select the fourth answer option “Other Smartphone”, which should be summarized under the “Smartphone” category.
  • Now create the third category in order to add the answer option 5 “I don’t know” to the recode. Proceed as described above for the other categories.
  • Finally, click on Execute.
  1. Use Recode in the Report
  • The new recode is listed in the Sources area under the Recodes menu item.
  • Drag it into the Structure area.
  • Click on the recode. In the Workpad area, the recoded values are displayed in the table format you are already familiar with. You can also adjust the display format as described in the previous steps.

Results data before recoding

Results data after recoding

Top Responses in Open-ended Answers

If your survey contains open-ended questions – i.e. questions, for which respondents can enter answers in a free text field – you have the option to easily group and sort responses by frequency using the Top responses in open-ended answers recode type. As an example, let’s recode a question, where participants can enter the product name of the GPS device they use in a free text field. We would like to display the five top answers in our report and summarize all other devices entered in the “Others” category.

To do this, proceed as follows:

  • In the Sources area, click on the Recodes menu item.
  • Click on the plus icon.
  • A screen for creating new recodes is displayed.
  • Select the option Top responses in open-ended answers and click Continue.
  • A screen for configuring the recode is opened.
  • Under Source question, select the question, for which you would like to create the recode.
  • Under Number of top answers, enter the number of answers to be displayed in the report.
  • Activate the checkbox for the Create category ‘others’ option.
  • Click on Continue.
  • The Recodes editor is displayed. The recoding of values has already been done automatically by Reporting+ according to the settings selected in the previous step. The five GPS devices most frequently mentioned by participants are listed as categories on the left-hand side and all other devices mentioned are summarized in the “Others” category.
  • Click on Execute.
  • The new recode is listed in the Sources area under the Recodes menu item.
  • Drag it into the Structure area.
  • Click on the recode. In the Workpad area, the five GPS devices most frequently mentioned by participants and the “Others” category are displayed in the table form you are already familiar with. You can also customize the display as described in the previous steps.

Exporting the Report

Once you have evaluated all desired questions in your report and edited them accordingly, you can export your report. The following formats are available: HTML, PDF (PPTX-based), PPTX and XLS. If you have evaluated questions by means of diagrams, HTML, PDF (PPTX-based) and PPTX are particularly suitable, and you can use the XLS export to export a list of tables.

Follow the steps below for the export:

  • Click on the Report menu item above the Sources area and select Export.
  • Enter a name for your report.
  • Select the desired format from the File format drop-down menu.
  • If your project is a multilingual survey, select the desired language.
  • Click on Export.
  • Your report is exported. Depending on the size of the report, this may take some time.
  • Once the export is complete, click on the download icon to download your report.

FAQ

How can I update my report if changes are made to the questionnaire during the field phase?

You can update your report subsequently by using the “Subsequent updating of reports” feature in Reporting+. This process can also be automated. For more information, refer to the Reporting+ documentation.

Can I import external data into Reporting+?

Yes, Reporting+ allows you to import and evaluate external data alongside survey data collected in EFS. Refer to the Reporting+ documentation for detailed instructions on importing external data.

Are there alternatives to Reporting+ for analyzing survey data?

Yes, you can export your survey data in various formats for external analysis or use the MySight Dashboards add-on module to display your data as interactive dashboards.

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